


Being a Pines

by Purpledragon6



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-08
Updated: 2015-08-08
Packaged: 2018-04-13 14:31:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,227
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4525650
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Purpledragon6/pseuds/Purpledragon6
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As kids, they had asked for robot arms and hockey lessons, and instead their parents gave them boxing classes and a baby sister named Shirley. Rated K for cute and fluffy sibling drabbles.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

As kids, Stan and Ford had asked for robot arms and hockey lessons. Instead, their parents had given them a baby sister and a weekly boxing class. It wouldn't have been so bad, if it weren't for the fact that both of those things were ear-bleedingly loud and usually caused the twins much pain. Regardless, they still loved both.

"Look at that right hook! This kid is gonna be a champ when she grows up!" Stan announced, the 18 year old suddenly picking his 1 year old sister up and holding her out for his twin to see.

"Stanley, would you mind 'training' her somewhere else? I'm trying to read." Stanford huffed, though he did eventually lower his text just to look at the little one.

"What's the matter? You jelous of her mad skills? She got the tough gene like me." Stanley cooed, placing the baby on top of his brother's book. "Here, why don't you study something cute instead of your dumb nerd book?"

Frowning, Stanford looked down at the little ball of dough currently staring back up at him. Like the rest of the Pines siblings, she had curly, chocolate coloured hair. However, she had their mother's blue eyes, that would cross at her pinkish tinted nose whenever Ford would touch it with the back of his pencil. All in all, she seemed like every other baby out there, simply hitting at thin air just for the fun of it.

"Stanley, ma asked us to watch Shirley. Not teach her how to throw a punch." Stanford muttered sternly as he lifted the baby off of his book with a six-fingered hand and drew her to his chest to lay her down.

"Why not? It builds character!" Stanley retorted, quickly and somewhat roughly snagging the baby away from his brother.

"A one year old child does not need character!" Stanford gasped, trying to return to his book and gripping it a little tighter now.

"Geez, you sound just like Shermy on the phone last night." Stanley huffed, holding their little sister protectively with both arms as he spoke.

"Because Shermy is an adult with a child of his own on the way, Stanley." Stanford replied, rolling his eyes at the thought of his older brother. "He knows how to handle them."

"His kid isn't even born yet, and he's only seen old Shirls once when she was born." Stanley muttered, quietly returning to Shirley's playpen and setting her inside before getting inside with her.

"It'll never cease to amaze me how that thing can hold both of your weights." Stanford mumbled, only to gasp loudly when a baby block smacked him right in the face.

"Shut it. If this kid falls over then I want to be able to get to her ASAP." Stanley shouted over to his twin before returning his gaze back to his baby sister.

"Goodness, you're more of her mother than Ma is." The six-fingered twin mused, peering over his book to search the floor for where the block had landed.

"Hey, my mad parenting skills could be the thing that saves one of us in the near future." Stanley crooned proudly, poking the button nose of Shirley. "Ain't that right, kid?"

"No offense, Stan, but I highly doubt that your 'mad skills' will ever aid us." Ford laughed, finally setting down his book and going over to his siblings.

"It might! Who knows, Shermy could end up having super intelligent grandchildren who will come and stay with us and they might cause something totally crazy like a zombie apocalypse or a knomb fight or something like that."

"Stanley, I think you've been reading way to many comics instead of studying again." Stanford snickered with a slight roll of the eyes. "Children can't cause such anomalies to occur."

"Oh yeah? Well, check out this anomaly!" In a quick movement, Stanley suddenly picked Shirley up under her arms and held her up to Ford, whom she proceeded to left-hook with her tiny baby fist.

"Ow-"

"The amazing fighting baby! Heck, we could charge big money for people to watch this kid beat the crap out of you, and we'll call it 'Baby Fights'! You'd only get 1% of the profit though since you're the one getting beaten up." Stanley joked, lowering the little girl back down just as Stanford climb into the playpen despite his earlier concern about it.

"Absolutely not. No one would ever go for such a concept." Stanford teased, taking Shirley into his own arms and watching as the baby snuggled closer to him. "See? She likes me better anyhow."

"What are you talking about? She's just biding her time and gaining your trust." The other replied in an all to serious tone. "Plus she's a baby and isn't sure which brother she likes. She probably thinks that we're the same person or something."

Stanford rolled his eyes at the other before grabbing a nearby pillow and putting it behind his back so he could lay back a little with the baby girl still curled up comfortably on his chest. Following his lead, Stanley took Shirley's baby blanket and fashioned it into a make-shift pillow before doing the same. Smiles were all around between the three siblings, though the two older ones were silently hoping that their ma didn't do what she did last time and sneak up on them while they were in there and snap an embarrassing photo.


	2. Addi and Shirley

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Chapter 2 of Shirley Pines: Shirley is 12 in this chapter and Ford is in his late 20s early 30s at this point. It's a sudden jump forward but I typed this at 2 AM as a joke and thought it was funny. This contains 2 OCs, and the other belongs to hntrgurl13. We both have tumbles made for our characters so if you want to see some fan art and posts about them then go and check that out for fun.

Almost ten years had passed since Stanley had been kicked out of the house, and while Stanford had moved out and on, he still found that he was not yet free of his life as a brother. Since his twin had left when Shirley was still a baby, the little girl had grown up only knowing one brother/ best babysitter. For the longest time, Stanford had felt a little guilty for all but taking Stanley's place in the little girl's life, but he now felt as though his debt had been paid the day he learned that he would have to watch his kid sister for an entire summer.

"It's just until the end of the summer... And then at least one of them will be out of my quickly graying hair..." Ford sighed, idly holding his mug of coffee as he glanced out of his kitchen window to the two women out front.

One was his baby sister, Shirley Pines, whom had dropped in unannounced for a summer long visit, and the other was his assistant, whom he had affectionately called 'Addi' and whom Shirley simply referred to as 'Miss Marks'. She had taken up work at his Shack as an assistant sometime after he had taken on Fiddleford, and Ford found that this 'Mystery Trio did in fact work better as a team. A three piece harmony had been discovered to kill zombies, and a three keys shut down button for that 'project' they had going were all things that just seemed like good ideas to Ford... Not that he would ever tell Shirley about any of those.

"Shes just a baby, after all... Kinda..." From what he could see from the window, the girls were idly wasting what was left of their morning hours on the steps, discussing lord knows what while out of ears reach of the boss of the house.

'Hi, Ford!' Shirley mouthed suddenly, turning and waving to the kitchen window.

"Heh..." With a gentle huff, Ford was to his feet and was about to go interupt, when a loud, and rather annoying beeping sound cut him off.

"Stanford!" Within an instance, the door leading into the lab was thrown open, and out stepped Fiddleford, and in his hands he held a tracking device of sorts.

"Fidds!? What is it, man?" Ford asked, quickly going to the smaller man, his heart racing.

"I don't quite know what it is yet, but this device here is picking up on high levels of extraterrestrial activity nearby!" The man exclaimed, taking a quick two seconds to adjust his glasses before looking up at his boss.

"What!? This is big! Go get Addi a-" Before Ford could even finish his sentence, the front door flew open and the girls rushed inside. "Ah, just the woman- and young lady, I wanted to see!"

Without letting the man continue further, Shirley twirled quickly to him and all but threw herself into her older brother's arms in a rather forced bear-hug while Addi followed behind her. However, the lighter haired woman didn't make contact with the man, as she held something in her hands instead. Upon a quick investigation, Ford soon found that the object was a baby - bundle shape fashioned out of one of Shirley's hip scarves.

"Do I even have to ask?" Looking down at the two women, Ford soon found the device's beeps fading into the background, and the feeling of soon finding out what was causing them slowly creeping up on him in the form of a headache.

"Brother, dear." Shirley began with her opening that was almost always used whenever she wanted something.

"Sister, whose a pain in my ass?" Ford retorted, gently prying the girl away from him and folding his hands over his chest. "And assistant who I butt heads with at times?"

Both girls had a sweetly innocent look on their faces, but even Ford was smart enough not to trust those looks. Knowing Addi, whatever it was they were hiding couldn't have been anything to dangerous, but the 6 fingered man was not going to take his chances.

"So, we were out in the yard and-" Addi began, holding out the hip scarf for Ford to take. "And we found the cutest little thing."

Frowning, Ford took the make-shift bundle and began to unwrap it. Upon seeing what it had been covering, he nearly screamed. Lying within the purple wrapping, there lay a little thing that looked like the horrible love child of a red-panda, kitten, and maybe a bit of a toad in there. It had huge ears and eyes but no tail and webbed feet with lots of orange fur.

"Can we keep him!? Please! We'll take good care of him a-" Shirley was quickly cut off.

"No. No way. Absolutely not!" Ford gasped, holding the creature out at a distance. "Take this thing back outside so that we can contain it safely."

"But Ford! He's so sweet." Shirley pouted, backing up so that she was standing next to Addi. "Tell him, Miss. Mark."

"Ford, he really is a sweety." Addi added, reaching out and petting the newly discovered creature.

"I don't care if sound science says that he will bring world peace. I already let you keep the shape-shifter, and even he is one pet to many."

"Then at least let us keep him as a friend." Shirley pouted, folding her arms over her chest and frowning deeper.

"Shirls, I am not going to change my mind just because you told me to." Ford replied firmly, handing the creature off to one of his assistance before continuing his stare down with his little sister. "No little sister of mine is keeping this thing as a pet. Its simply to dangerous."

"That may be true, but we have an ace up our sleeves." Addi smirked suddenly, causing Ford to shift in a bit of an uncomfortable way.

Fiddleford sensed his friend's discomfort, and made quick work of escaping back down to the lab with the creature just as Shirley reached into her pocket and withdrew what looked to be a playing card. Against his better judgement, Ford let out a loud and sudden laugh at the sight.

"Shirley, I don't believe in your 'magic tarot cards'." He began as he walked over to the girl's once more. "And neither should you, Addi."

"Oh, but this isn't a tarot card." Addi began with a smirk playing on her lips once more.

"Its ma's number. She told me to call her if there's any trouble." Shirley smirked, folding her arms over her chest. "I'm sure she'd just love to talk to you-"

"So, what are we naming that little guy?" Ford said suddenly, backing away towards his lab, the thought of his mother catching wind of this causing his blood to run cold. "M-maybe Frank or-"

"Yeah, we thought so."


	3. Chapter 3

Shermy never signed up for any of this. He never signed up to be on his parents speed-dial, nor did he sign up to be the older brother of three little troublemakers who used that speed-dial more than they did 911. The oldest of the Pines was beginning to, fear the arrival of his own son from this, fearing that it would be the same process of wake up, tend to someone sobbing, eat breakfast, stop them from sticking a fork in the outlets, and so on. It was honestly getting on his last nerve having to do it for his own siblings, and yet he still found himself waiting by the phone, with his keys already in hand.

Ring! Ring!

"Hello?" Shermy answered almost instantly, hearing the shrill cries of his baby sister in the background.

"Sherms! We need you over here, stat!" Stanley all but screamed into the phone. "Code: Hot Pocket! This is not a drill, Sherm!"

Code: Hot Pocket to the Pines siblings had one of two meanings to it. It meant that either the house was burning down, or that something was wrong with Shirley. He was going to go out on a limb and say that this call involved Shirley this time.

"On my way. Whatever you do, DO NOT step away from the baby and hide behind the couch like last time!" Shermy called into the phone, suddenly dropping it onto the receiver and hopping over his own couch as he raced out of his apartment and towards his car.

"I came as fast as I could!" Shermy announced as he rushed into his old home and began to look around the room.

Stanley was curled up into a little ball, with oven mitts taped to his hands and a trashcan lid on over his head. Though he was happy to see that Stanley was acting normal, the older brother didn't have time to dwell on it, and instead got straight down to buisness.

"Where's Stanford and Shirley?" He barked, suddenly pulling his brother up and then slapping him.

"Ow! They're in the bathroom, jerk." Stanley snapped, removing one of the gloves and using it to slap Shermy back. "And a simple "Hi, how ya doin'" would have been a nice greeting also. You know, instead of slapping me in the face!"

"Just shut up and tell me what's wrong with Shirley!" Shermy snapped angrily as he began to head off towards the bathroom, his brother following behind.

"Shirley is constipated. Ford is trying to find the baby ointment in the bathroom but it's missing." Stanley filled him in, stopping just before the door. "Its a war zone in there, so be careful."

"I will."

With that, the bathroom door was flung open, and the horrid wail of the baby girl nearly sent the two brothers packing, but still the oldest pressed on. He found Ford, hurriedly searching through the cabinets of the bathroom, with Shirley clinging to his shirt and howling directly into his ear.

"Ford!" Shermy called to him over the roar of the little one, just as his brother turned to him.

"HI SHERMY!" Ford exclaimed, his voice rising over his little sister's cries, probably due to the hearing loss he might be experiencing. "SHIRLEY, LOOK WHO IT IS."

Shermy stepped forward and snagged Shirley away, causing her cries to turn into tiny whimpers, as she attempted to communicate to her older brother that she was still hurting but at least happy to see him. Just then, Ford turned to them.

"WELL, I CAN'T FIND THE OINTMENT, BUT MA SUGGESTED GETTING HER TO DRINK SOMETHING MAY HELP."

"Poindexter, why are you yelling?" Stan asked, plugging his ears at the sound that was equally as annoying as Shirley's earlier cries.

"WHAT?" Ford called back, clearly not hearing a word that the other said.

"Nevermind! Let's just go with Ma's idea." Shermy cut in, leading his younger siblings down the hallway as he shook his head. "I swear, you three are a mess without me around this place."

Upon entering the kitchen, the baby was placed into her highchair and her brother's got to work preparing a quick fix to her potty problem. Upon being set onto her bottom, the girl waved her arms around and the wailing began again, causing her brothers to frantically search the fridge for one of her bottles.

"Kid! Shut up! We're looking for it!" Stanley groaned, trying to cover his ears and search at the same time.

At long last, their eyes suddenly found a bottle, just behind the off-brand ketchup and expired mustard in the back of the fridge. Unfortunately, thats all they would find, as Shirley's formula for that bottle had already been consumed earlier and no more remained now. Holding the empty bottle in his hands with a blank expression on his face, Shermy was quickly let in on yet another awful thing.

"Shit. And we're all out of formula so we can't make another..." Stan said as he sighed heavily.

"All out!?" Shermy exclaimed as he looked to Shirley.

"JUST UNTIL MA GETS BACK, BUT SHE HAS A HAIR APPOINTMENT TODAY." Ford said, trying to explain this to the suddenly frantic frantic adult and baby girl, who only responded with yet another round of ear-splitting cries.

Unable to stand the sound so close to their ears, Shermy and Stanley plugged their ears and began to search the fridge for something else to give her. The first thing they found was... A beer?

"This shouldn't even be in here. You're all underaged." Shermy scolded, shoving it further back with the secret intentions of taking it for himself later.

"Eh, it would help to shut her up." Stan muttered, though he did feel bad for Shirley.

"But it would also help in getting us all in trouble if ma were to find out." Shermy added, rolling his eyes as the search continued.

"What do you care? You're a grown-ups adult who-" Stanley was suddenly cut off by his brother.

"Kid, the only thing we have left in here is-" Shermy paused suddenly, his eyes widening at the sight of what lay before him.

"Absolutely perfect!" They exclaimed in unison rather uncharacteristically.

Happily, the three jeered as Shermy quickly snatched the glass container from its spot in the fridge and rushed over to the child, who by now was calmed down enough to watch him as he worked. Carefully, Shermy uncapped the lid of both the container and the empty bottle and started pouring the blood colored liquid into Shirley's bottle, with her watching in amazement. For good messure, he watered it down until the liquid was soupy and then offered it to her. She pulled the bottle away and for a second Shermy feared that she was going to freak out, only to be saved by her cries of sudden delight. She quickly puts the bottle to her lips and downs the entire bottle in milli-seconds.

"Hot Sause. Our pet monster's only known weakness." Shermy said in delight, returning to the fridge and cracking open the beer from before before grabbing a couple of sodas and tossing them to his younger brothers. "Job well done, gentlemen."

"I'd say so. This time only Ford lost his hearing." Stanley commented, watching as Ford pressed his soda to his ear.

"In all fairness, that wasn't my fault." Shermy muttered sheepishly.

"Eh, you still handled this like a champ." Stanley laughed, "12.2 minutes to get here and you tamed the beast in no time. Heh, you're going to be a great dad."

"And you two are going to be horrible uncles." Shermy teased, sipping his beer and then knocking them both in the shoulders. "Still, feel free to use the speed dial whenever you want to. My wife won't mind."

"WHAT?" Ford suddenly exclaimed, causing an eruption of laughter to come from his siblings, which promptly ended due to a sudden disturbance in the force.

"Crap... I think Shirley finally got all of that out of her." Stanley muttered, wrinkling his nose. "Ford, change the kid."

"I DID IT LAST TIME!" The bispectacled brother exclaimed, slowly backing out from the room. "YOU DO IT, STANLEY, SHE LIKES YOU BETTER."

"What!? No way am I getting near that thing! Shermy should do it! Practice for his own kid or whatever!" Stan said as he followed after his twin quickly. "Good luck!"

Shermy frowned and rolled his eyes as he walked over to Shirley and picked her up, only to hold her out at an arms length so he could change her without dying from the smell alone. He swollen thickly, walking out to the livingroom while praying to God that his own child would never be this messy, and that he'd be able to get the diaper on correctly this time around...


	4. The Devils Went Down To California

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stan goes to a family reunion.

The Devils Went Down to California

(Its still @forduary, but this prompt focuses on remembering Ford.)

.

Gravity Falls to California wasn’t a horrible drive, especially when you have a lot to think about while driving. The landscapes are beautiful and quiet, and you know when you’re at your destination when you first hear the sounds of city life stirring to welcome you. Waves that were too rough for the Stan-O-War would crash on soft sanded beaches, and the morning sun just barely hits your windshield hard enough to blind you- 

Stan hated all of it.

“Dang it, Sherm- Why did everyone have to move HERE? It’s not like they were banned from Jersey-” Stan grumbled, pushing his rode map down and furiously search street signs for SOMETHING that sounded about right. 

Part of him felt pretty stupid for not accepting Shermie’s offer. The one that involved a paid, round trip bus ticket and a 20 minute ride from the station and back after the trip was over. It would have been less of a hassle for both parties that way- but it wasn’t something Stanford Pines would have done. Stanford Pines wouldn’t trust a public transit, and would insist on driving the whole way. 

He did the same thing when he moved to the Falls, after all. Stanley knew that much was true. Banned from the family or no, he still kept tabs on them, no matter where in the world they went in their lives. 

“Okay- 1243 Oak Lawn…” Stan said, “This must be the place.”

Pulling up along the curb, he stopped to take in the house before him. It was a nice, strong structure with a faded, sky blue, wood finish. On the front porch, he could see his brother settled in a porch swing. Sherm’s face hadn’t aged well, but he had a certain happiness about him and that was all Stanley could wish for. His brother must’ve been sleeping, because the hord of children and teenagers and family that rushed out of the house suddenly didn’t seem to bother him much. 

“Heh… Sherm always could sleep through anything.” Stan mused, getting out of his car and gathering up the bags of presents he had brought with. 

While he knew he had nieces and nephews, he didn’t know how many of each or what age. So he figured that T-shirts and assorted baseball caps would suit everyone. A little something from the Falls that didn’t break his bank or require him to actually speak to his family. 

“Alright-” He was cut off by a round of crushing hugs and a flurry of “Uncle Stans!”. Had it not been almost overwhelming, he would have thought it was nice. 

“Give him some air!” He heard Shirley cry. “Someone go wake Sherman and get the babies- Wheres Ma?”

“Heh, it’s fine, sis.” Stan said, fighting his way through the crowd. “I’ll see everyone eventually.”

Eventually, he did manage his way to the stairs, handing a few gifts off to- Well, he would figure out which half of the family was Sherman and his wife’s and which half was Shirley and her husband’s later. They were all Pines, he knew that much was for certain. And he knew the weird looking old man was his brother. 

He took a seat beside him and nudged him. Sherman jerked awake and fumbled to fix his glasses.

“Hey, Sherm.” Stan said, “How’s it going?”

“… I wasn’t sleeping.” Sherman gasped, his voice far away. A smile suddenly tugged at the corners of his face. “Don’t tell Shirl. She’s worse than my wife.”

“I won’t.” Stan laughed, looking out at the mass of family now in their Falls gear. “How’s the family? It just gets bigger every year… Can’t keep up anymore.”

“Good… Miles and Patty’s twins are- I think one now…” Sherman muttered, searching the crowd breifly. “Mason and Mabel.”

“They’re one.” Stan confirmed. “I can’t believe it- Seems like they were born just yesturday.”

“- And my daughter went back to the hospital the other day for her kidneys- And Miles just started at a tech company.” Sherman said, ignoring Stan for a moment. “Shirley’s brood are all in college now… The three of them.”

“Sherm, I don’t need everyone’s story.” Stan cut in. “I’ll catch up with everyone later.”

“You say that, then no one hears from you, Stanley!” The con-man felt his blood run cold.

“N-no, Sherm, I’m Stan-FORD.”

“And I’m the Queen of England.” Sherman scoffed. “My mind may be going, but I’m a Pines. You can’t con a con. I’ve known since you came to my grandchildren’s birth missing two fingers!”

“… You’re taking it pretty well then.” Stan sighed. “Does anyone else know?”

“Stan, I don’t care… I’ve got my family and my kids around me… Not going to question a good thing.” Sherman shrugged. “And our girls know, but that’s about it.”

Stanley frowned, looking back into the crowd of family. All were so happy to see him but, they were all so blissfully unaware of the secret that laid within their own brood. Though, if they did know, they were pretty good at hiding it from him. They probably got that ability from one of two people missing from the party.

“… Did dad know?” Stan asked. 

“… He never would’ve let you into the hospital if he did.” Sherman sighed. “Really wish you two made up before it was too late.”

“Yeah, but dad wasn’t the forgiving type.”

“I wasn’t talking about dad- Dad got over what happened years ago, he just wouldn’t admit it.” He frowned. 

“… Sherm- If you knew all this then why did you wait until now to tell me?” Stan asked. 

“Last chance to do it.” Sherman said, slowly rising from his chair. “I’m gonna get a beer. Want one?”

A silence hung between the pair as Stan took in his brother’s words. He almost had to admire him for taking things as was, and now he understood how he managed it. Sherm had the chance to be happy, so he was taking it. Maybe he was taking it for the last time. Just surrounded by his family, no secrets between them and apologies out of the way. Maybe it was something Stan could try out?

“I got it- Gives me a chance to see the twins.” Stan said, rising up quickly. 

“In the livingroom with Ma.” Sherm called over his shoulder. “Go on then.”

Stan smiled and made his way into the house and made a b-line for the livingroom to see his favorite people. He instantly saw his Ma, who aged much better than his brother, with two little tots on her lap. They were both playing tug of war with her beaded necklace, and she didn’t seem to mind at all. 

“And your father wa-” She stopped mid story to look up at her son. “Stanford! Hello, dear. Come sit.”

From years of taking orders from her, Stan automatically hurried to do as she asked. He took a seat beside her, and took Mabel from her to lighten her load. Mabel giggled happily and hugged him in greeting.

“I think we might’ve found her favorite.” Ma said. “You should’ve heard her asking for you earlier.”

“Ma, she’s 1. She can’t ask for anything.” Stan laughed. 

“Just hush and enjoy them. They’re going to need someone to spoil them when they’re older.” Ma pouted. 

“Ma, what makes you think it’ll be me?” He frowned. “I-”

He stopped, and noticed his mother’s face drop. Her true age showed in the wrinkles around her eyes and mouth. Ones that only grew the more she cried and frowned with them. Every phone call he had ignored from her, and every family event he purposefully missed out on… Heck, he wasn’t even going to come to this gathering if it didn’t first hear that Sherman was sick again! His comment probably made it sound like he, his mother’s soon to be last living son, planned on dropping out of the loop again. 

“I… I don’t know what kids like.” He lied quickly. “Shirley knows that kind of stuff. She’ll be the one who spoils them… I’ll just- Rebuild that boat of mine and take them fishing.” 

The look of relief that washed over her face almost moved Stan to tears. 

“Thank you, Stanford…” She said softly, wrapping her arms around the three of them.

“Ma- Its Sta-” 

Her grip tightened on him.

“I know, sweetheart…” 

Stan sighed, wrapping his bigger arms around her thin frame. Holding the three of them just like his mom used to hold him and his siblings. At the time, she felt like the safest place to him- and now he guessed it was his turn to take up the mantel. He already took up the role of Stanford- he’d have to take up Sherman’s when the time came. So what was one more role in a sea of them? At least these ones meant something to someone.

“I’m so sorry, Stan- for everything you’ve been through.” Ma began, her voice hushed. “With your father and your brothers and me-”

“Ma… I’m not going to think about it anymore.” Stan sighed. “I’ve got my family around me now. I’m not going to question a good thing. Or something along those lines.”

She nodded her head, and then rested it against Stan’s arm. Not that it felt like much to him. He had greater weights on him before, but that was something he didn’t need to think about. All those years aside, he finally had his family and a life that was worth continuing on. Not just for himself, but for the brother he would hopefully get back one day. Hopefully soon enough that he’d get to see Sherman, and the family, and sail those stupid waves they’d pass by as they made their way to the next reunion. Hopefully.

Hopefully he’d get to shed a mantel and just be Stanley again.

“Stan!” Mabel whined, patting his face. “STAN!”

Breaking from his thoughts, he looked at his precious girl and smiled. He wasn’t going to think about things now. He had time still. Time to before he had to change quickly.


End file.
